Daniel Barenboim: Ring cycle at Proms will make the legs ache

Daniel Barenboim today embarks on one of the epic works in classical music — and the celebrated conductor said he is thrilled to be doing it at the BBC Proms.

He is taking the baton for the four operas of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle in four days of concert performances with a cast including Bryn Terfel, Nina Stemme and Anna Samuil, concluding on Sunday.

Performing: Nina Stemme (Pic: Alastair Muir/Rex Features)

It is the first time there has been a complete Ring cycle at the Proms, which Barenboim, 70, hailed as the world’s greatest music festival. It is also the first time he has conducted a Wagner opera in Britain making it among the hottest of all Proms tickets.

“It is not a well-kept secret that Wagner has played a very important role in my life. I’m very moved,” he said. Barenboim, who was married to British cellist Jacqueline du Pré until her death in 1987 from multiple sclerosis, said: “England is so much part of my life, professionally and for private reasons. And I have a really great enthusiasm for the Proms.

“I feel it’s the most wonderful music festival anywhere. I love it.” The BBC’s investment in the Proms means standing or “promenading” tickets are still £5 on the day, so a complete cycle, albeit without costumes and with little acting, is £20 for many fully staged performances.

“Just imagine how many more people would be really interested in music if they had access to it as children in the way they learn literature and geography and mathematics,” added Barenboim. “Music is anything but elitist — it has been made elitist by politicians who don’t think enough about education.”

He conceded “the legs sometimes ache a little bit” by the end of the cycle. “All the promenaders know they will stand for slightly over two hours for only the first act of [the final opera] Götterdämmerung. Now they know what a conductor’s legs feel like,” he laughed.

Barenboim’s commitment to opera houses in Milan and Berlin mean he is unlikely to conduct fully staged operas in London. But he feels “very close from a distance” to the Royal Opera House where Antonio Pappano, his assistant for seven years, is music director. “He’s practically a member of our family.”

The Ring cycle opens at the Royal Albert Hall tonight and continues until Sunday. All seats sold out but returns may be available